I am a Linux user and sysadmin. However, I need to install a couple of Windows 10 enterprise or MS-Windows 10 LTSB on a desktop system for developers. How do I create a bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux with GUI tools on an Ubuntu Linux 18.04 or Debian Linux 9.x?Introduction: There are two methods to install Microsoft Windows 10 enterprise, pro or LTSB ( long-term servicing branch) on a USB pen drive. The first method includes installing an app called woeusbgui and writing an ISO image using that app to the USB pen drive. The second method use a bash shell script. The third method involves typing the various command at the Linux shell prompt and recommended for advanced users. Let us see how to create a bootable Windows 10 enterprise or LTSB USB in Linux with the CLI and GUI methods. You need the following:

Linux distro such as Debian or Ubuntu or Linux mint

Windows 10 enterprise/ltsb client ISO (download link). The following instuctions should work with Windows 7/8/10 pro or home edition too.

woeusb and releated commands from source code

GNU compiler collection

A USB pen drive (usb hard disk or usb stick) with at 4 Gb or more free disk space

Warning: Writing or selecting the wrong kind of boot record to a device (USB/hard disk) might destroy partition information or file system or data forever. Be careful with partition and disk names.

This method is recommended for all new Linux users as it requires less typing at the CLI and easy to use. WoeUSB is a simple Linux program to create a Windows 10 USB stick installer from a real Windows DVD or ISO image. From the Github page:

WoeUSB is a simple tool that enable you to create your own usb stick windows installer from an iso image or a real DVD. It is a fork of Congelli501’s WinUSB. This package contains two programs:

woeusb: A command-line utility that enables you to create your own bootable Windows installation USB storage device from an existing Windows Installation disc or disk image

Make a Bootable Windows 10 USB from Linux

Simply type the following command to completely WIPE the entire USB storage device (called /dev/sdc), then build a bootable Windows USB device from scratch:sudo woeusb --device win_10.iso /dev/sdcNot a fan of the CLI? Try gui version:woeusbguiThe progress:Wait for some time. You should get a confirmation box as follows:Remove USB pen from Linux. Go to your desktop/laptop. Insert USB pen. Boot up the system and make sure bios set to boot from USB. You should see Windows blue logo soon on the screen when installer boots from USB pen drive.Now just follow on screen instructions to install Windows 10 Entperise client or LTSB edition on your desktop/laptop.

First you need to install a tool called ms-sys. It is a Linux cli app for writing Microsoft compatible boot records. This program does the same as Microsoft “fdisk /mbr” to a hard disk except that it does not copy any system files, only the boot record written.

Download and install ms-sys

Grab the latest version from this page. Use the wget command or curl command to grab the file:cd /tmp/wget https://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/project/ms-sys/ms-sys%20development/2.5.2/ms-sys-2.5.2.tar.gzUntar the tar ball named ms-sys-2.5.2.tar.gz using the tar command:tar -zxvf ms-sys-2.5.2.tar.gzIf you do not have gnu gcc c/c++ compiler installed on a Debian or Ubuntu Linux, install it using the apt command or apt-get command:sudo apt install build-essentialSee the following links for more info:

Build and install it:cd ms-sys-2.5.2makesudo make install

Create a ntfs partition

First, find out the usb device name using the lsblk command or lsusb command or dmesg command:lsblklsusbdmesg | more## or use the grep command as follows ##dmesg | sort| uniq | grep -A 6 usb-storage

I am going to use the /dev/sdc. Create a partition using the fdisk command:sudo fdisk /dev/sdcCreate a partition as follows:Format /dev/sdc1 to ntfs:sudo mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sdc1

Use ms-sys command to write mbr to create a bootable Windows 10 pro usb in Linux

In order to burn the Windows 10 ISO to a USB and boot it, run:sudo ms-sys -7 /dev/sdcSample outputs:

Windows 7 master boot record successfully written to /dev/sdc

Unmount /dev/sdc:sudo syncsudo umount /mnt/usb/Now boot from USB pen and you should see Windows 10 installer as follows:

Conclusion

And there you have it. You just created a Windows 10 bootable USB stick on Linux using two different methods. Creating a Microsoft bootable Windows 10 USB stick from Linux is very simple, and I hope it helps you manage your enterprise workload without leaving Linux desktop.

Posted by:Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.